Both professional and support staff members within the Moberly School District will be seeing a bit of a change in the amount of time they are allowed to take off each year.

Later in their Tuesday (May 14) meeting, the Moberly Board of Education adopted a new policy limiting leave and absence time for both their professional and support staff members.

According to the new policy, both professional and support staff “whose assignments call for 12 months of full-time employment” will now receive 16 days of sick leave. Those only employed during regular school terms will receive 12 days of sick leave. They will be earned at a rate of 1 1/3 days per month. Such can be cumulative to 45 days, nearly half of the 90 hours listed in prior versions of the policy.

Upon leaving the district, those who have been with the district for at least two years will have their unused sick leave purchased by the district, if the employee is in “good standing with the district.” The rate is to be set by the board.

Sick leave is quantified under the following reasonings: illness, injury, or incapacity of employee; illness, injury, or incapacity of a member of the employee’s immediate family; illness, injury or incapacity of other relatives, with permission from the superintendent; and pregnancy, childbirth, and adoption leave.

Staff is allowed a maximum of three days personal leave per school year. Those that go unused do no accumulate, per the policy.

Such can be for tax investigation; court appearances; weddings, graduations, or funerals; observance of a religious holiday; personal business that cannot be performed outside of school hours (including parent-teacher conferences); and "leaves authorized by law, policy, or the board that would otherwise be unpaid.”

District administrators on a 12-month contract will receive three weeks of vacation per year, while all other professional staff on a 12-month receive two weeks, the policy notes.

In a big conversation point amongst the board members, employees will now be allowed to carry over a maximum of five unused vacation days into the next fiscal year. They will, however, not be compensated for these additional days if they were to leave the school district.

Board member Dennis McCarter asked if the district has a way of tracking these additional vacation days.

“We already do,” said Moberly Assistant Superintendent Tim Roling.

Superintendent Gena McCluskey reaffirmed such, and noted that the district tells staff members how of each particular day they have left on their on their paychecks.

It was noted by the board that since the days would be non-compensable, they might not be noted on the paychecks, and that a line in the district’s database might need to be added to keep track of the five rollover vacation days.

Page 2 of 2 - “The most you can carry over is 45 [days],” explained board president Jeff Lawrence.

“You’re basically giving them the opportunity to better manage their time,” McCluskey said Tuesday.

Five paid days will be offered in the case of family death and funeral service planning and attendance.

Leave is also granted for holidays (New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), professional duty, military duty, election work, voting, jury duty, firefighting, crime victim circumstances, participation in the civil air patrol, and participation in the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.

In terms of pregnancy, childbirth, and adoption leave, employees must inform the district at least 30 days in advance, if possible.

Family and Medical Leave Act-eligible persons shall be applied by the district for up to 12 weeks of accrued paid leave.

Those ineligible for under the FMLA may take up to 12 weeks of leave, using a combination of accrued sick leave, personal leave, vacation leave, and unpaid leave.

Persons who need more than 12 weeks of paid or unpaid leave for “pregnancy-related incapacity” need to provide certification of medical necessity for such leave.

Notable differences between the professional and support staff policies include the following the support staff’s ability to use “inclement weather days” under their sick leave absence reasons, whereas the professional staff is not; and the support staff’s allowance to take sick time in two-hour increments if they work at least 40 hours per week.

“Sometimes, [our professional staff] have to stay and work,” said McCluskey.

The board approved both policies (The professional and support staff leave policies were presented separately.) via 6-1 votes each time. Board member Amy Hager was the lone vote in opposition each time.

McCluskey did not respond to MMI requests for additional comment on the policy changes on Thursday morning.